Describe Newton’s first law of motion in detail, giving examples.
Answer:
- According to Newton’s first law of motion, a body at rest or in uniform motion will remain at rest or in uniform motion unless an unbalanced force acts upon it. This law consists of three parts:
The first part says that a body at rest continues in its state of rest. For instance, a boy standing in a train falls backward when the train suddenly starts moving forward. This is because when the bus moves, the lower part of his body begins to move along with the train while the upper part of his body continues to remain at rest due to inertia. - The second part says that a body in uniform motion continues to move in straight line path with a uniform speed, e.g., when a moving train stops suddenly a person sitting in it falls forward. This is because as the train stops, the lower part of the person’s body comes to rest along with the bus while upper part of his body continues to remain in ^notion due to inertia of motion and thus he falls forward.
- Third part says that a body moving with a uniform speed in a straight line cannot change its direction of motion by itself. For example, when a bus takes a sharp turn, a person sitting in the bus gets force acting away from the centre of the curved path due to his tendency to move in the original direction.